The Light In The Dark
by CUtopia
Summary: Katie makes two shocking discoveries - one heartbreaking, one uplifting.


Entry for _Defense Against The Dark Arts_ at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

 **Task #2:** Write about using violence in an argument by a character knocking back the person they are arguing with or breaking objects as the fight is going on.

Extra Prompt: (genre) hurt/comfort

Entry for the _September Event: Back to School_

(location) Empty Classroom

(object) Blackboard

Entry for the _Greek Mythology Competition_

 **Hephaestus:** Write about someone discovering their partner is having an affair.

Entry for the _Chocolate Frog Card Club_

(Gold) Phineas Nigellus Black; **Challenge:** Write about someone who is unpopular.

Entry for the _Gringotts Prompt Bank_

Thanks a lot to Dina and Liza, who betaed this for me :)

(2620 Words)

* * *

 **The Light In The Dark**

* * *

 _The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies._

* * *

Katie Bell's eyes were wide in shock as she stood in the doorframe of the empty Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, watching how her boyfriend Oliver Wood was fucking some nameless Ravenclaw girl on the teacher's table. They hadn't registered yet that Katie was in the room; their moans proved that they were completely oblivious to what was happening around them. Blinking a few times, Katie gulped and tried to think of anything to do now; the piece of parchment she was holding in her hand was crushed into a little ball. It was as if she was frozen into place, unable to move, and her thoughts were chaotic. She couldn't, no, she didn't want to believe what she was seeing right in front of her, even though it was more than obvious what was going on here.

Never had she thought that Oliver would betray her, but here she stood, seeing it with her own eyes, and slowly, the realisation began to sink in. Pain was shooting through her body right into her heart, and she felt tears sting in her eyes.

Not able to keep her mouth closed anymore, she exclaimed: "You could have broken up with me, Oliver!"

Oliver froze in the middle of his next thrust and turned his head, his face reddening in the second as his gaze fell onto Katie. His Ravenclaw girl shrieked in shock and tried to cover herself up somehow, while Oliver was obviously too flabbergasted to really be aware that he was standing there, naked and completely exposed.

"Katie," he laughed nervously after a few moments, hastily grabbing his black trousers and pulling them up when he finally realised the full circumstances. "Baby... this isn't what it looks like, really."

"Yeah," Katie hissed, barely able to keep herself from exploding; anger was boiling inside of her, numbing the pain at least for these moments. "Let me guess, you two were studying and you accidentally fell into her and then out and then in again? Great, Oliver, really. Why are you trying to tell me you didn't just have sex with this girl when I saw it? That's pathetic!"

"Angelique, would you leave us alone?" Oliver asked the girl who'd pulled her skirt up as well and was now trying to button her blouse in a haste, her face red and her long blonde hair a tangled mess that got in her way. She seemed glad to be able to leave, and as she dashed past Katie, she could have sworn that the girl was throwing an apologetic glance at her.

"So," Katie huffed as the door was slammed shut behind them, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Back to my initial question. Why didn't you just break up with me if you preferred to fuck other girls?"

"But Katie, baby, I love you! Why should I break up with you?" Oliver asked in a sickly sweet tone that made Katie want to throw up. She couldn't believe that he'd really just said this, and suddenly she was asking herself what she'd ever found attractive about Oliver. Starting to pace between the rows of tables to satisfy the need to get a few feet away from him, she shook her head, gulping down the bile that was rising in her throat.

"Seriously?"

It was the only thing she could press out for now; she felt dizzy and as if a weight was pulling her down. All of this was just too overwhelming to stomach within a few minutes, and Oliver's words and attempts to touch her were only making it worse.

After a few very deep breaths, she ran a hand over her face, feeling ready to deal with his illogical and ridiculous claims again.

"If you love me so much, why am I here, finding you in an empty classroom with some girl? Is that love? Excuse me, but I highly doubt that!"

"Oh Katie, but I did that because I love you, you stupid girl! I respect that you don't want to have sex yet, you're just not ready! But I, I'm a man, I have needs! And it's also very helpful for Quidditch – blood circulation and relaxing before an important game!"

"I feel like your blood is never circulating, Wood, as it doesn't seem to be leaving your penis! It definitely isn't in your brain, otherwise you wouldn't be saying so much bullshit!" Katie growled, her anger rising again – she couldn't believe that he was bringing Quidditch into this, that he tried to justify him cheating with the game that seemed to be the only thing important in his life. They'd been together for some months now, and looking back, she felt like she'd been some kind of part-time activity next to Quidditch, like a mandatory class that you took until N.E.W.T. Level and never intended to take seriously.

"But I did that because I respected you!" Oliver shot back, his expression slowly darkening, obviously because he was realising that his argumentation wasn't greatly appreciated right now. Katie was glaring at him, silently wishing that his head would explode. Her fingers were shaking, and her disbelief about the situation was getting stronger with every word that left his lips.

"Sorry if I'm too dumb to understand this, but I certainly don't feel respected!" Katie yelled, shoving Oliver away from her as he tried to approach her. He stumbled backwards, his momentum being halted by a few tables, and Katie felt oddly satisfied about this physical exclamation mark. It made a tiny bit of the anger disappear, as she was able to really transfer it to the person who'd caused this inner turmoil – Oliver.

"Katie..."

"You're a damned asshole, Wood! But I have good news for you, now you can fuck around with Angelique and whoever is there as well without having to fear that I might not understand your need for circulation, because we two, Oliver, we are done!"

He tried to approach her again, an appeasing expression on his face as he attempted to grab her by the shoulders to make her listen to whatever he had to say. However, Katie, whose rage was now seemingly having a peak, shoved him again, following him this time, causing him to stumble again and again, until his back hit the blackboard with a loud thump.

"Katie, calm down," Oliver begged, only to crash into the blackboard again; a pained groan escaped him and Katie grinned angrily.  
"I have no reason to calm down! I have the right to be angry, and now you have to lie in the bed that you made for yourself! And you even had the nerves to write me a note that you would meet me here! That's tasteless!"

"Wait, I didn't..."

"Just shut up, Wood," Katie hissed furiously, glad that her voice wasn't shaking despite her being more than upset.

She hadn't planned it, and it normally wasn't like herself to become violent during an argument, but today, it seemed more than justified. Before Oliver could react, Katie balled her fist and landed it right in Oliver's face, causing the back of his head to crash against the blackboard very hard. At the same time, she brought her knee up and rammed it into his private parts.

Oliver blacked out immediately and slowly slid down along the board towards the floor, where he came to sit, his chin touching his chest. Katie, though shocked about what she'd just done, nodded grimly, sending another death glare into Oliver's direction before leaving the classroom, feeling like she'd done the right thing.

Even though violence wouldn't make McGonagall jump in happiness, it had at least evened out the field in her opinion: Wood had hurt her with his betrayal, and now he got his payback.

OoO

A few days later, Katie still felt great about what she'd done; the memory of punching Oliver never failed to lighten her mood whenever she was overwhelmed by the pain that he nonetheless had caused in her heart. Obviously, Oliver had been too embarrassed about having been knocked out by a girl to alert any teacher about it, which made the whole situation just that tiny bit more satisfying for Katie. The whole Gryffindor Quidditch team knew the story, though, and had made it their duty to spread the story again and again in the Common Room, making sure that Wood would be properly humiliated.

Especially Fred and George were ensuring that Oliver learned that he couldn't do something like that with a friend of theirs, which resulted in the good Captain being the victim of their most nastiest pranks.

But the biggest surprise for Katie was yet to come...

OoO

It was an early evening not long after the incident, and until that very evening, Katie thought that only the Gryffindors knew what had happened between Oliver and her. She was on her way back from the library, having spent her free afternoon studying, when she suddenly came across Marcus Flint, who was casually leaning against the stone wall next to a suit of armour, looking as if he'd been waiting for her.

A grin, which surprisingly wasn't threatening or even unfriendly, was lighting his face up as he pushed himself away from the wall and fell into a trot next to her, saying: "That's an impressive black eye that you gave Wood. I must admit that I wouldn't have been able to do it any better! Though maybe I would have attempted to go for a broken skull."

Katie stopped right in her tracks, staring at him in surprise and asking herself who else knew about it if Flint had gained knowledge about the incident.

"What?"

It was the only thing that she was able to say, and she hated being so flabbergasted in front of Flint, as she normally preferred not to show him any weakness.

"You gave that douchecanoe what he deserved, in my opinion."

Katie blinked a few times, not able to truly believe that Marcus Flint was standing in front of her, practically congratulating her for knocking out her ex-boyfriend. Was she hallucinating? Or maybe he had been hit by too many bludgers in the last game?

"How do you know about it?" She asked, silently praying that word hadn't reached Snape yet – she wasn't too keen to spend the rest of the school year in detention.

Marcus looked oddly defensive as he replied curtly: "I was there."

"And as you don't have any friends, you don't have anyone to prove that. Now seriously, who told you about it, Flint?"

Marcus crossed his arms in front of his muscular chest and shrugged, seemingly trying to sound as marginal as possible as he replied: "That note about meeting Wood in that classroom was from me."

For a moment, Katie was on the brink of laughter, convinced that he was trying to make fun of her, but before she could express her amusement, his expression made her stop just in time. He was looking at her with a mixture of held back concern and something she couldn't quite place – she definitely wasn't used to him looking at anybody like this, and she was convinced she was the first person to experience this particular gaze.

"You're serious," she whispered, looking up into his dark green eyes, a pleasant shiver running down her spine.

Marcus cocked his head slightly to the side, and as he spoke, his voice was so soft that she could have thought that he was a completely different person: "I couldn't watch anymore how he happily fucked with that girl behind your back. You don't deserve something like that; you deserve someone who loves you and would never betray you."

For a moment, there was silence between them, and she really didn't want to make fun of him when he was showing her a completely different side of him, but she couldn't hold herself back.  
"Uh... excuse me, are you really Marcus Flint? Or was there something in my pumpkin juice?"

"Bell, this isn't funny. I'm trying to tell you something here, and it certainly isn't easy for me, so could you please just...," Marcus growled impatiently, grabbing her by the wrists without really putting any pressure into his grip.

"Sorry," she mumbled, suddenly captivated by how he looked at her; she'd never thought that she would ever see so much honesty in the eyes of Marcus Flint – after all, he was the kind of person who simply loved to shove everyone around and throw insults at them. Polite honesty wasn't his thing, but still he was looking at her like this...

"What he did was disgusting, and when I found out, I didn't know what to do. I hoped that you would find out on your own, but you didn't. I didn't want to let him get away with betraying you and so I decided to make you see what he was doing behind your back. I just couldn't bear the thought of him holding your hand with the same fingers that he touched that slut with."

An uncharacteristic sigh escaped him, throwing Katie only deeper into astonishment. Even though it was Marcus, it felt good to know that someone cared enough about her to show her that she was associating with someone who wasn't completely honest with her. On the other hand, his confession overwhelmed her so much that she had no idea what to say now. Flint was the last person from whom she would have expected something like that…

"Listen, Bell, I know I'm making a complete fool out of myself, but this isn't a joke. I like you. I'm just… I'm not the type of person who shows it openly, and I can fully understand if you are repelled and think I have lost my mind, but… If the wound that Wood caused isn't so fresh anymore, would you like to go out with me?"

His voice was clearly shaking as he uttered the last words, and Katie's jaw dropped slightly as she realised that this was truly happening. At first, she quickly wanted to decline; Marcus really wasn't her type, and he also was a Slytherin, something that didn't promise a smooth date. But on the other hand… Oliver had been her type, and he'd betrayed her without a feeling of regret. Also, Marcus had showed her that he wasn't the heartless git everyone else saw in him. He'd made it rather clear with his actions that he cared for her, and that he was able to be honest with her.

And so she made her decision; a soft smile appeared on her face as she looked him into the eyes, answering: "I would like to. I just think I'll need time."

"I'll be there," Marcus smirked, his trademark smugness slowly returning as he straightened his back. "But don't you forget about me."

With these words, he leaned forward, pressed a kiss onto her cheek and then turned around on his heel. As he walked away, something like a swing was lying in his step. Katie's gaze followed him until he disappeared behind a corner, her fingertips gently touching the prickling skin his lips had touched.

Maybe the saying that always something good results from something bad was true after all. Or at least you spot a light in the darkness.


End file.
